Hope of Dawn
by Birdy Chan
Summary: Auschwitz is not a place anyone should be, let alone an 11 year old. When Italy finds a preteen that barely escaped Death, he takes them in to protect them. Can Italy heal a child who has given up hope and who is unable to love? Italy x Preteen Reader friendship fic.


**Heads up for a sensitive material warning. This takes place in World War II, during the Holocaust. The reader is an escapee from Auschwitz Death Camp and the reader can be either male or female and this will be a friendship fic at most.**

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_Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings. _

-Elie Wiesel

The world in the eyes of a child is a vast and curious place. (Name) remembered the days when she couldn't wait to touch the sky on her/his father's shoulders with a smile on her/his face. That became only a child's dream that faded away from war and despair. Along with the dream, the child once known as (Name) faded away as well.

-1944, Auschwitz Death Camp-

Everyday was despair. Every night was hell, a hell that no human should go through or witness even long after their time. Night stole the sun at dusk, the only time where a fragment of the real world had connected to the living hell.

Men would come back from work at dusk. Everyone would gather in a celebration for being alive. There would be music, dancing and merrymaking. These simple pleasures always made (Name) happy. These simple gestures promised that better times would be here.

It wasn't long when these pleasures were taken from her/him. She/he would have mourned the loss of her/his happiness but with the angel of death at the gate, the loss of her/his happiness was no longer a concern.

Everyday, the smell of death filled the barracks the faint haze of smoke crept through the cracks of the shutters. Haunting mournful cries break the deadly silence in the night.

(Name) lay awake in the darkness on her/his bunk that she shared with seven other inmates. She/He couldn't sleep for several days. Not since six inmates were shot for trying to escape.

(Name) was robbed of all emotion and love when she/he saw a similar event for the first time with her own eyes.

She/He could still remember when she came to this place. She/He was hopeful that the officers would give them a better life along with her family. Within a few short minutes, they were sent to two lines. For some reason, (Name) was sent into one line and her/his parents in the other. A guard had insisted that she/he was merely short for her/his age and saw potential in her.

It was a blur after (Name) walked away with other people who were now prisoners like her/him. She/He remembered she/he held onto what little faith, hope and joy. It all slowly faded everyday when her/his parents never visited, when the guards would humiliate the inmates without cause, when people were being murdered right before her/his eyes and when there was a constant reminder that she/he will die.

The thought of death was so terrifying. (Name) couldn't bear to even think of the letter 'd'. She/He wasn't stupid, she/he knew her/his family was gone and it was only a matter of time before she/he was sent to the chimney. Even if she/he had the courage to escape, the other inmates would starve to death.

A hand on her/his shoulder made her jump. It wasn't uncommon that (Name) and the other prisoners for warmth as their rugged, ill fitted stripped uniforms were thin and itchy as a potato sack. This hand was gloved, meaning it was a guard. The shadows covered his face as he put a finger to his lips with one hand and held a bag with the other.

"Don't wake the others. Come."

(Name) followed him without question outside to the side of a shack that was only mere meters from the wire fence. She/He stood up straight and emotionless, trying to hide that she/he was afraid to die.

He lit a cigarette and turned to the watch tower that was in sight as (Name) hid in the shadows.

"Prisoner Number 46642, I've kept my eye on you for a long time." (Name) didn't protest that he did not call her/him by her/his name. But she/he didn't care. That name was no longer of use to her/him as that (Name) is hanging on by a thread and would be content on dying outside of the barbed fence.

"The only reason I am doing so is that I have a little child just you. I can no longer watch over you. They have you marked for experiments and it is..." He trails off a little bit before he exhales a puff of smoke.

"Never you mind. I will help you escape. An air raid is coming this way. When the power goes out, you have 45 seconds to get through the barb wire. No more, no less. There's a compass in your bag. Follow it South until you get a port that has a ship heading to Rome. From there, find a man named Antonio Fernandez Carriedo. He will lead you to freedom. Remember these instructions well." He said as he slipped an envelope on your hands that said 'When It's Right'. The air sirens sounded off and the faint engines of airplanes were coming from the East. "Good luck."

(Name) tried to process it all into her/his head. This was her/his chance to escape through another way other than the smokestack. Something within her/him was reignited for a few brief moments as the lights went out in the camp.

Her/His skeleton figure dashed to the forbidden fence and slipped through it. She/He thought that perhaps behind small and skinny was an advantage in this case. She/He was just the right size to slip through the wire without much trouble, save for the sharp pokes and scratches that her/his clothes couldn't protect her/him from. She/He knew her/his time was slipping fast. She/He made it through the first wire and the second wire without much trouble.

On the second wire, her/his bundle snagged and a buzzing noise caught her/his attention. She/He yanked the bag so that it would be released, creating a hole in it as well. She/He took a second to squeeze it shut before running into the vast plain without sparing a second to look at the camp that she/he left behind.

She/He had learned that it was survival of the fittest in that little world. There was nothing to go back for. (Name) lost her/his parents, what little friends she/he had. The only thing that kept her/him alive was the thought of survival. The inmates had silently agreed that the only way to survive was a united front. The harsh reality was that there was no room for weaklings or outcasts. There was no room for mistakes.

The 11 year old ran and ran. She/He knew that if her old self saw this, she/he would die of heartbreak a thousand times over. The problem was that there was no longer a heart to break.

Time went past as a blur. The pain throughout (Name) was there but she/he taught herself/himself to ignore it, no matter what. It was either this or certain death. As she/he was running, her/his legs had started to fail her and collapsed. She/He panted hard as her/his hands fell into the mud.

Her/His chest was on fire, her/his hands and feet were burning. But she/he couldn't stop, it was far too early to give up now. She/He made an unthinkable choice. She/He had to go through with it otherwise she would be damned.

Why must she endure all this pain for nothing? But what was she/he looking for in the first place? What if it was also nothing?

(Name) banished her/his thoughts as she/he stood up and continued walking. She/He traveled for nearly four days until she reached Vienna.

Having finished off her/his dry loaf the guard gave her and some plants along the way to keep her/his strength up thus far, (Name) felt drained. She/He needed rest in the very least if she/he was to continue. Where could she/he go? Austria was where the madman had come from. This was the mouth of the lion's den.

As shehe wandered around, she/he found a train that was heading for Venice Italy and stowed away in a box of tomatoes. Luckily, there were some large ones that she/he satisfied her/his moaning stomach with. Sleep finally swept over her/him for the first time in a long time as the sun's fading rays slipped through the cracks of the train's walls.

This was the first time the night did not steal away the sun. Perhaps the dawn would be just as kind, by not setting the sky ablaze to the colour of fire and forewarning death.

Xxxxxxxx

"Ugh, this box is really heavy!" Feliciano complained to his co worker. His red hair reflected the warm morning light that shone upon him.

"On-a second, Feli! I'll come and help-a you!" A voice called from the entrance of the train car.

"Hm... Maybe I should make sure these are tomatoes... Maybe Roderich's trying to surprise me like I surprised Ludwig that one time!" Feliciano chimed to himself and smiled at the silly thought. He opened up the box without much effort and his eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "That's not Roderich..."

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**Ugh... I really can get carried away with the intro = = **

**Well I think this will be my new series/project for a while =w= I know, it's very sad now but it will get better soon!**

**Just to give you guys a heads up to why I put a Mature Warning on here is that this deals with Auschwitz Death Camp and reference to the Holocaust. This will be the only one (hopefully) with a warning because the further chapters are gonna be more fluffy**

**You are an inmate at Auschwitz who had recently escaped. Even though your stay at Auschwitz was less than a year, the horrors you have witnessed had left you broken, unable to love, and left empty. When Feliciano takes you in, is it possible that he can help you or will his kind actions ultimately lead you to further turmoil through fear and guilt?**


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